Coronavirus Updates: US Nears 400,000 Deaths

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As the death toll due to covid-19 reaches near 400,000 several public health experts and historians blame the Trump administration for the devastation. Several people are of the opinion that this loss of life was preventable and the authorities did not take the pandemic seriously in the initial stages.

US Nears 400,000 Deaths

Many public health experts feel that, had the Trump administration imposed strict mask mandates and other covid restrictions in the the early stages of the pandemic and during the festival season, things could have taken a different turn. Even though it is not possible to entirely stop the spread of the pandemic across the country, it is still able to minimise the loss of life and livelihood if proper precautionary measures are put into place.

The problem for the US began with the attitude of the Trump administration as it did not care much about the safety guidelines of the CDC. The election year made it even more difficult for the public health authorities to impose proper restrictions.

Coronavirus Updates: US Nears 400,000 Deaths

The Trump administration was not keen on imposing lockdown and other restrictions as this could hurt the economy and their chances of winning in the presidential election. Due to this reason, the administration always downplayed the pandemic and did not give much importance to mask mandates. Donald Trump even publicly criticized using masks on various occasions and he was rarely seen using a mask in public places. This set a bad precedent for his followers and several republicans were not in favour of using the masks in public places. The CDC has repeatedly said that throwing such precautions into the air is the main reason for the rapid spread of the pandemic in recent months.

The recent spike in new coronavirus cases across the country is mainly attributed to the travel and gatherings during the Christmas holidays. The total number of cases per day has averaged more than 230,000 throughout January and the covid related deaths per day in January has averaged more than 3000. Health experts are of the opinion that things are not looking positive for the next few weeks and the total death toll across the US due to covid-19 likely to cross 500,000 by the end of February.

However, the Trump administration has to be praised with regards to the quick response to developing the vaccine in such a short duration of time. This is the first time in the history that a vaccine was developed within one year after the first case was recorded in the US. Even though the Trump administration failed with regards to various aspects of handling the pandemic, they have done a decent job when it comes to Operation Warp Speed. The program has managed to come out with two covid vaccines that are approved by the FDA. As of now, the administration is delivering the covid-19 vaccines across the country.

In the near future, three more vaccine manufacturers are likely to apply for FDA authorisation and the process is likely to be completed in the next two months. The authorities will have better options when it comes to the mass vaccination program and more people can be vaccinated in a short interval of time in this situation.

Many people expect the incoming Biden administration to take an aggressive approach with regards to handling the pandemic. The team has promised to vaccinate hundred million Americans in the next hundred days. Health experts believe that this is an achievable target and the authorities need to put better efforts with regards to the vaccine manufacturing and distribution process in the next few months.